New India deal to fight tax evasion

Macau and India will cooperate on fighting tax evasion, after a new agreement came into effect earlier this month.
The deal was signed in the city on January 3 by the secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, and the chairman of India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes, Mukesh C. Joshi.
However it was only published in yesterday’s Official Gazette.
The agreement aims to prevent offshore tax avoidance and evasion by information and intelligence sharing as well as other kinds of co-operations.
The SAR Government has so far concluded Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) or Double Taxation Conventions with 14 different countries or regions.
Two of those agreements were ratified earlier this year, involving Norway and the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
The tax treaty will provide authorities on both sides with access to information about the capital dispositions and incomes of citizens with tax arrears and could reveal assets and earnings not declared at home.
The Finance Services Bureau said in September that the SAR would also sign TIEA with Malta and Jamaica. Macau is also “actively” negotiating tax treaties with Ireland, New Zealand, Germany and Argentina.
However, just last month, the head of the European Union office in Hong Kong and Macau, Maria Castillo Fernandez, said the territory must make improvements in tackling tax evasion.